


Can't Handle It

by Hatta



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, Sadstuck, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-01
Updated: 2012-04-01
Packaged: 2017-11-02 21:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/373569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hatta/pseuds/Hatta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Karkat and John reflect on their history, about themselves, and about each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



There was, surprisingly, not a lot of things John Egbert couldn’t handle.

He had a lot of time practicing on his own over typical fears a lot of other people had. He wasn’t scared of being alone, he wasn’t scared of the dark, he wasn’t scared of heights, he wasn’t scared of bugs or wild animals either. John had spent a lot of time in those kinds of scenarios to the point where he wasn’t at all phased when they came around to haunt him.

However, if there was one thing he couldn’t handle, it was Karkat Vantas.

Perhaps it was his cultural insensitivity or maybe his general lack of knowledge about the boy himself, but he scared John to bits. He tried, he really tried, to do everything in his power to be nice to Karkat. To befriend ones fears is to overcome it and thrive, right?

Karkat was more complex then that.

He never stood tall, he was always stuck in a slouch with hands driven in his pockets and a glower imminent on his face. He never laughed. His expressions were never kind, and when he were to remove his hands from his pockets his movements were very rough, as if forced. John didn’t even know he could relax from his almost ever-present tense state until he met Gamzee, and this came as a shocker to him.

He was scared, scared of basically anything Karkat said or did. Sometimes when Karkat was in a particularly bad mood and happened to lash out at John, John sometimes couldn’t look at him in the eye for days.

But honestly, it wasn’t his fault. He always apologized for screaming and yelling. Karkat did have a soft side, like the underbelly of a particularly ferocious stray cat. He didn’t always lash out at John, and sometimes John had to admit in his head he might over-exaggerate his accusations then what was actually happening in reality. But what was he to do?

He thought about this while laying on the remains that was once a battlefield, now home to the scattered amounts of dead children littered on the ground. The graveyard seemed to loom over him as Karkat toppled over someone else’s dead body and tried to shake John’s shoulders, but it was far too late. John gave Karkat a goofy grin before closing his eyes and falling. Deep into the abyss he went, and he seemed to forget the litter of red tears that dripped on his face as the darkness seemed to engulf him.

At least at that single moment, Karkat wasn’t so scary.


	2. Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Karkat and John reflect on their history, about themselves, and about each other.

There was, surprisingly, a lot of things that Karkat couldn’t handle.

It has been a long time since the war, yet for some reason he was in a constant state of terror due to the fear of segregation. There was a fight between blood and races that was forever present, even no matter how hard you pressed against it, that caused a large number of casualties among friends and foes that he cannot even fathom.

That is if he were lying to himself. As an ex-soldier, he very well can, because he’s seen it all happen before his own eyes. The war was long and was not forgiving with civilians or soldiers, and he was unfortunate enough to know both sides of it. Like a time when he was much younger then he was now, a time where his best friend was a human and no one cared.

He could still remember those bright blue eyes that would twinkle with a wisdom older then himself on a face with pinched up cheeks from the sheer force of his dumb little smiles. But those were times long forgotten, and Karkat found himself burying his face into his hands and waiting.

You see, this was the day he was going to get married.

After the war a lot of people got together in the same desperate need of comfort, and he was no exception. He latched onto Terezi and she was more then happy to help him along the way. One thing lead to another, and soon enough they were engaged. It should be a normal happily-ever-after except for the fact they weren’t exactly a normal couple.

Terezi was blind. Back in the war she had joined the army and was one of the first to be exposed to the vicious mustard gas. Although she would never be able to see again, though, she made it a point never to ask for sympathy. Every time he would make a comment about it she would point out she was one of many, and was lucky to survive.

If you were Karkat, you would suppose that she is stronger then you could ever be, then.

He straightened out his tux, before walking out to the alter. Soon the wedding will start. He tried to calm himself but he found his eyes to be bloodshot and his breathing to be coming at odd intervals. Karkat fidgeted, pressing his fingers together in a nervous habit until suddenly a warm and comforting hand pressed against his shoulder.

At that moment he looked up to his best man, Gamzee, who had the smallest of smiles and he felt himself calming down. He was here with friends, and he was going to make it out of this and handle the raging snake by its god damn head.

At least that is what he thought before the music started playing and Terezi rounded the corner, but she was wearing not only a beautiful white wedding gown, she was carrying a single bluebell in her hands, blindly walking forward in the dark of the sounds and smells to meet Karkat. A bluebell, the flower of grief, for all that had fallen in the war that changed them both so. A tear rolled down his cheek and dripped on his new white dress shirt.

At least at that single moment, the world wasn’t so scary.


End file.
